


Call It Coincidence

by queen_scribbles



Series: Better Company [4]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Flirting and Banter and Snark oh my, Pre-Canon, alternate first meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 13:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18522346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Briyoni's plans change decidedly for the better--or at least, more exciting--when she runs into a certain SIS agent during the Festival of Life





	Call It Coincidence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [storyknitter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyknitter/gifts).



> Started as a prompt fill for storyknitter, turned out full fic. Whoops? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ As usual, I regret nothing.

 

In hindsight, Briyoni admitted, she really should have expected her plans to be changed. She’d intended to spend her first couple days of leave catching up on all the sleep she’d lost on her last assignment. But of _course_ her leave coincided with the Festival of Life, and of _course_ Sayna wanted to go together. It had been ages since they’d been able to hang out, and while their friendship hadn’t suffered, they did have a lot of catching up to do, so Bry went along with the universe rearranging her plans. The Festival of Life only happened once a year, after all, and it _was_ fun. She could sleep later; she had two whole weeks.

So she dressed casual--Stars, it felt good to wear something other than fatigues or armor--slipped a few essentials in her pocket, and met Sayna at the shuttle pad. She was, of course, first. By a good twenty minutes.

“D’you keep your patients waitin’ like this, or just your friends?” Bry teased when the petite twi’lek hurried up.

Sayna rolled her eyes and laughed as she pulled Bry into a hug. “Just my friends, obviously. Patients can choose to go somewhere else, you’re stuck with me.”

“Ah-ha, the truth comes out,” Bry said with a laugh of her own as they climbed in a shuttle bound for the heart of the Festival activities. “So, _Doctor_ Xo’ric, anything else new I should know about as your best friend?”

“Oh, several things, Corporal Nerai,” Sayna teased, then cocked her head.  “Unless it’s Sergeant...?”

“Not yet,” Briyoni said ruefully. “But I gotta be close, especially after this last mission. Unfortunately, that’s all the usual classified pfassk. So let’s hear these several things that are new with you.”

Sayna obliged, and they chatted about the goings on in her personal and professional life the rest of the way to the Festival. Bry was slightly envious--she wasn’t allowed to discuss most of her professional life, and that was demanding enough she didn’t have much of a personal one. Such were the perils of being a middling army grunt; low ranking enough she got the dirty work, trusted enough to get the dirty work she _couldn’t talk about_.

But life had been good to Sayna recently, and Briyoni was more than happy to listen as her friend rattled through the litany. She grinned and laughed, bumped Sayna’s shoulder approvingly, rolled her eyes a time of two at clear embellishment. It was a very enjoyable shuttle ride and they were still going going when it reached the pad outside the festival entrance.

“And how’s it goin’ with Kel?” Bry asked as they headed toward the largest of the clubs, revelry spilling out to spread across the avenue with infectious cheer.  “Last I heard, he took you to some fancy new restaurant for your birthday?”

Sayna’s eyes lit up and she instinctively reached for her necklace, running the tear opal pendent back and forth along the chain. “Yeah, Scarra. It was really nice, and the food was delicious. We haven’t seen much of each other--at least, not as much as I’d _like_ \--because he’s off-planet a lot, like someone else I know.” She shot Bry a meaningful look. “Least he’s only chasing stories, not bad guys.”

“That is usually safer,” Bry laughed. She pulled Sayna behind her as she dodged tables and dancing partiers--some partiers dancing _on_ tables--on the way to a drink kiosk. “But you two are still going strong?”

“Hell, yes.” Sayna paused, bit her lip in thought a moment, then ordered a Starshine Surprise. “Actually, we’ve been talking about getting a place together. We’ve already half moved in to each other’s apartments, and since he got transferred and works out of StarInq’s headquarters now, which is just down the block from the medcenter, we could get something that’s closer to work for both of us, maybe eat lunch at home every once in a while- what?” She cut off her rambling justification when she caught Bry’s smirk.

“ _You_ ,” Bry laughed. “You sound so domestic and _smitten_ , Say.”

“I’ve been dating the man for three years, Bry,” Sayna retorted with a bemused look. “I should hope I’m still in love with him.”

Bry’s grin widened,  mischief dancing in her eyes as she claimed her juma juice from the serving droid and passed Sayna her drink. “Smitten,” she repeated.

Sayna rolled her eyes and flipped one lekku back over her shoulder. “Stars, Bry, I _cannot_ wait until you fall head over heels for someone. That’s gonna be so _kriffing fun_ to watch.”

Bry snorted. “Yeah, good luck. You’ll prob’ly be a wrinkly old grandma by the time I catch a guy.”

Sayna rolled her eyes again and sipped her drink as she shifted away from the increasingly raucous table-dancers. “I doubt it, ‘specially if you keep dressin’ like _that_ off-duty.”

Bry laughed and impishly tugged at the knot of her cropped, tie-front shirt. “Girl likes to show off her hard work occasionally. All it gets me is looks, though. Just as well; with my job, the only way I’m getting a guy worth havin’ is if the universe drops him in my lap.”

There was a clatter behind them, and a vaguely slurred, _“Watch out!”_ Briyoni spun around just in time to see one of the table-dancers falling straight toward her. Fortunately for both her and the dark-haired human--not so fortunately for her drink--she had very quick reflexes. Her glass hit the ground, juma juice splashing her boot and the paving stones as she took a lunging step forward to get in a position where they wouldn’t bang heads.

She didn’t have time to brace herself properly, and stumbled when his whole weight hit, back first, into her shoulder. She did however, _catch_ him so neither of them fell. His arm settled almost instinctively around her shoulders as he leaned on her for support. He _reeked_ of daranu, which explained a few things. It was a good drink, but it took awhile for the full effect to kick in.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, glancing at her with sheepish (but clear) pale blue eyes as he straightened.

“No permanent damage,” Bry laughed. Hopefully that was true; he _had_ hit her shoulder pretty hard. “Daranu’ll do that to ya, ‘specially if it’s your first time.”

He smiled self-deprecatingly. “Yeah, can’t say I’ve ever had the pleasure. Lucky you were there to catch me.”

Despite retaining a decent grasp on Basic, he _was_ still weaving slightly, and Briyoni fought the urge to grab his arm and keep him upright as she narrowed her eyes at him. “Just how drunk are you?”

The self-deprecating smile shifted into a grin. “Not so much I can’t enjoy being caught by a pretty girl.” He started to pull away and almost toppled. This time Bry _did_ grab his arm. “But I guess enough to mess up my balance.”

“Uh-huh.” She bit back a bemused smile. Her first time having daranu had gone pretty much the same, so she really couldn’t judge. And hey, much as he smelled like alcohol, he wasn’t hard on the eyes. Not with those cheekbones.  “Maybe you should go sit down?”

He nodded, briefly leaning into the support she offered.  “Maybe... maybe I should. And I think I owe you a drink?”

Much as she didn’t mind their contact, feeling his lean muscle through the sleeve of his jacket, Bry made herself let go. Slowly. ( _Carefully_ , she argued to herself. Stars forbid she let the man hurt himself.) “That can come later. You gonna be alright?”

He nodded. “Just point me toward a chair.”

She chuckled as she obliged, and watched his first few steps to make sense he stayed on course before turning back to Sayna.

Who was grinning at her.

Bry crossed her arms. “What?”

“Wish the universe answered _my_ requests that fast,” Sayna teased.

“Wh-” It took a second for the reference to hit and she shook her head. “That’s not what it was, Sayna. It was a drunk nerf-herder I’m never gonna see again. And you could have _helped_.”

“And miss the show? Not on your life. ‘Sides, you’re strong enough to deal with one drunken flirt.” She smirked. “And I know you have a thing for green eyes.”

“They were bl-” Too late she caught Sayna’s plan and _glowered_ at her triumphant friend. “ _I hate you_.”

“No, you don’t, you hate that I”m right,” Sayna gloated, taking another swallow of her drink.

“You’re n- I’m not doing this with you.” Bry huffed her bangs out of her face and turned on one heel. “I’m gonna go find a droid to clean this up, maybe get another drink. And we’re  _dropping this_ when I get back.”

“Spoilsport,” she heard Sayna grouse playfully behind her back. “Thought your catch was gonna buy you a drink!”

Bry flashed a rude gesture at her over her shoulder as she walked toward the club, but couldn’t entirely fight a smile of her own. It was all in fun, they both knew that. She just needed a break. And Sayna really was wrong this time.

There were several serving droids waiting near the club entrance, so it was easy enough to alert one about the mess and get a replacement drink from another. Bry lingered where she was a few more minutes, mostly as a way of driving her point home to Sayna.

 _Universe nothing,_ she scoffed mentally as she sipped her juma juice. _It was a coincidence that had the incredibly bad timing to happen in front of my best friend, who will now never shut up about me ‘catching’ a cute guy, even if she **knows** I’ll never... see him again..._

The thought slowed and trailed off as the universe or coincidence or whatever decided to change the definition of _never_ to _five kriffing minutes later._ Assuming he’d even made it to a chair, her dark-haired ‘catch’ hadn’t stayed there long. He was currently wandering down the alley between the club and the building next door, gait much steadier than it had been when she last saw him. 

 _Kriffin’ moons of kwath,_ she grumbled to herself. She shot a quick look toward Sayna, who appeared to have made some new friends(because of course she did, girl could befriend a rancor), swallowed half her juma juice in one gulp and abandoned the rest to follow him.

He was moving with more purpose than she would’ve expected, and Briyoni’s curiosity was piqued enough she followed without announcing her presence until he paused at a bend in the alley and peered cautiously around the corner.

She cleared her throat. “If you’re looking for someplace to puke, the other side’s better. More bushes.”

He barely  flinched at the revelation he had company, half-turning to grab her wrist and pull her closer to the wall. “Shh.” She saw the moment it registered who had followed him and he grinned, though clearly still preoccupied with whatever was around the corner. “Should I be flattered you found me irresistible enough to tail me down an alley, or concerned?”

Bry rolled her eyes. “Neither. This is natural curiosity on my part, not irresistible charm on yours.”

“Ouch,” he chuckled quietly, peeking around the corner again before shooting her a wry look. “You know they say curiosity killed the reekcat.”

“And they usually leave off that satisfaction brought it back,” she retorted swiftly, pitching her voice low to match his. “Should I be offended by the comparison?”

“Perish the thought,” he said with a smirk. “You, I like.”

She smirked back. He really did have gorgeous cheekbones, especially in this lighting- _Stop it, Bry._  “Enough to tell me why you were pretending to be drunk?”

He swept her head to toe and back with an apprising look. “SIS undercover. Trust me, I’ve done worse for the job.”

She could just bet. She’d also bet he trusted his instincts a lot, which meant they were saying he could trust _her_ , at least a little. Flattering. She nodded toward the corner he kept checking. “Need help?”

He shot her another look. “Thanks, but I think I can manage. Just need a way past the guards on the door.”

Briyoni sidled closer and leaned around to look, catching a heady scent of alcohol as she did. At least that part hadn’t been faked. The guards he mentioned were both human and looked bored more than anything. That could be good or bad, depending on how you viewed it. Regardless, they didn’t show any sign of moving anytime soon. But that was easy enough to fix. “You just need a distraction.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her. “You volunteering, gorgeous?”

“Maybe I am,” she shot back, smirking. “And don’t call me that.”

That grin widened, crinkling the corners of his (gorgeous)eyes. _Stop. It._ “Then I’m gonna need a name.”

Couldn’t hurt, right? “Briyoni.”

“Nice to meet you, Briyoni.” He held out one hand, warm and slightly rough when she took it for a single, firm shake. “Jonas.”

“Likewise nice to meet you,” she whispered back. “Say I was volunteering, how long of a distraction do you need?”

Jonas paused for moment, mentally calculating. “Three minutes would be nice. Minute and a half, bare minimum.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Bry scoffed in an undertone. She shucked her jacket, caught a gratifying brow twitch from her new acquaintance at how much skin was now showing. “And last thing, how suspicious you figure they’ll be?”

He shrugged. “They’re working out of an alley behind a cantina and a club during the Festival of Life. They have to know there might be the occasional lost partier or drunk who wanders back here. And far as we know they’re not overly violent.”

Bry snorted. “Comforting..” She combed her fingers through her hair to muss it a little. “Let’s see if I can play drunk as well as you do.”

He rolled his eyes at the teasing but seemed sincere when he murmured, “Good luck.”

With one last deep breath, she pushed off the wall and “stumbled” around the corner.

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part of Jonas wished he could stay and watch Briyoni’s whole performance, because the little he caught before darting to get inside while the toughs were distracted by the ‘drunk’ Mirialan, she was actually pretty good. She was also just pretty, in general. It was a shame he’d probably never see her again.

But he couldn’t dwell on that now; there was no way he’d find what he was after without going further in. And a distracted spy usually turned into a dead spy pretty fast. So he mentally bid farewell to Briyoni and started edging down one of the hallways. _Damn shame..._

He hadn’t gone for when one of the doors along the hall hissed open. Before Jonas had time to tense at the lack of available hiding places, a familiar lithe figure stepped through the doorway, saw him, and grinned. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Apparently the universe had other plans. “What’re you doing here?” _Why didn’t you just go back to having fun?_

Briyoni shrugged, part in answer, part to finish pulling her jacket back on, and winked at him. “Thought you might need another distraction at some point.”

There were so very many ways he could respond to that. _Behave yourself, Balkar._ “Uh-huh. How’d you get in?”

She grinned and reached inside her shirt. When her hand emerged, one of the guards’ access keycards was pinned between her fingers. “I have very talented hands.”

“So I see,” Jonas said, smirk tugging at his lips. “And what, you sneak into guarded warehouses after charming strangers for fun?”

“When I think they could use my help, I do,” she replied without missing a beat. She held up the keycard. “Are you tryin’ to tell me this _won’t_ help?”

“Quite the contrary.” That would save a lot of time; slicing had always been more Shan’s forte than his. “I owe you big.”

“Buy me dinner instead of a drink and I”ll call it even,” she winked.

Oh, he _liked_ her. Kriff it, his methods had never been what most  considered orthodox, anyway. “Deal,” he laughed, glancing down the hallway. “Sure you’d rather do this than whatever you were up to with your friend?”

“Hm, skulking around a slightly sketchy warehouse with a spook for company, or endure a couple hours of my best friend teasing about the universe dropping a h- a guy on me? I think I’ll sneak around the warehouse, thanks.”

Jonas grinned at both her glib words and the implication behind them. “Then welcome aboard.”

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That had been a lot easier than she expected. But then, Bry was used to military ops, where there was less operational flexibility and the only way to weasel in was know something vital. The SIS had a little more wiggle room, apparently. Or Jonas just didn’t care. “So, exactly what are you here for, Mr. SIS?”

Footsteps and voices echoed down the hallway before he had a chance to reply, and Bry dragged him after her as she dove back toward the way she’d entered, barely getting the keycard up in time to scan so the door would open. It hissed closed once more just as the approaching sentients rounded the corner, but they were apparently deep enough in their conversation that they didn’t notice; which was fortunate. Less fortunate was their--decision? assignment?--to stop at the other end of the hall in a semi-watchful position. She could sort of see them--well, one’s arm, cigarra burning down between his fingers--through the slit window of the vestibule where she and Jonas now hid.

“Sithspit,” she hissed in an undertone. “They don’t look like they’re goin’ anywhere for awhile.”

“Well, that’s a complication,” Jonas murmured back.

“Why do I have a feeling that’s an understatement?” she said wryly, leaning back against the wall. The vestibule wasn’t _large;_ likely by design and felt even smaller with two of them in here. Normally she wouldn’t mind, not with someone like him for company, but he still smelled _very_ strongly of daranu.

“I’m supposed to be investigating, which I can’t do stuck in here,” he shrugged, then shot her a wink. “Much as I might enjoy the company.”

 _Knew it was coming._ Bry grinned. “I might say the same, if you didn’t kriffin’ _reek_ of alcohol. Caraya’s moons, what did you _do_ ; douse your jacket with your drink on purpose?”

Jonas looked like he was fighting a laugh. “Pretty much, yeah. Well, most of it. I did have to drink _some_.”

“That is a shameful abuse of a gorgeous jacket,” she scolded, mischievous note in her voice. She gave it a meaningful look(which also meant getting to check out those _shoulders_ again). “I’m tempted to steal it and show it how something so well-made should be treated.”

His smirk was straight up devious. “You’re welcome to try.”

“Maybe after that dinner,” Bry smirked back. “For now, you were about to tell me what you’re after here. Before we got sidetracked.”

“Right. They moved yet?”

She checked. “Look pretty settled in, what I can see.”

“Damn. We’re after a fairly new group of arms dealers. They’ve started working with both Black Sun and the Migrant Merchants’ Guild, so a lot of people want this nipped in the bud.”

“That’s rarely enough to get a reaction,” Bry muttered. She knew how things worked around here. “What’s different this time?”

Jonas raised an eyebrow. “Senator’s kid got killed by a blaster the local security forces traced to this group. Suddenly it’s important enough to shove on SIS and tell us to find these slugs. Before we can do anything, we need more proof,more data on what they’re up to. That’s where I come in. Finding their base and proof of their activities.” He rapped a knuckle against the wall beside his head.  “Halfway there.”

“So... recon?” He didn’t seem the type. She’d’ve pegged him as more... interpersonal relations, something that let him interact with people.

“Not my usual job,” he conceded, running one hand through his hair. “But we’re busy. And the Director has the Senate breathing down his neck to wrap this up with a pretty bow fast as he can.”

“Been there,” Bry murmured with wry sympathy. “I see why bein’ stuck in here would be a complication. ‘Least they didn’t come around that corner before I showed up, huh?”

“That would definitely have been worse.” Jonas sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. “Just wish I knew why they decided to stop.”

“What’s your plan for getting past them?” she whispered,mirroring his pose against the opposite wall.

He made a face. “Wait ‘em out.”

“What? What happened to being in a hurry? They could be there for _hours_!” Bry protested.

Jonas shrugged. “I don’t really have anything I can do. Too boring for you?”

“No, that’s not...” Her eyes narrowed. “Your bosses sent you to spy on _arms dealers_ who work with the _biggest kriffing crime syndicate_ on franging Coruscant without any kind of weapon for self defense?!”

“Shh!” he hissed, darting a glance toward the door.

“They haven’t budged,” Bry assured him. “Why the pfassking hell don’t you get _something_?!”

“Part of needing to find them is not knowing where they were,” Jonas pointed out. “We knew they were attached to a club or cantina in this area, but not which one. Some don’t even allow dead blade knives. Hard to stay undercover if you get tagged by security and it causes a scene.”

“ _Causes a scene_?” she snorted. “And the dancing on a table was what, laying low?”

“Other people were doing it, it was a calculated risk to get a good look at the layout of the area.”

“Mmhm, and falling on top of a nearby innocent bystander...?”

“That part wasn’t planned,” Jonas acknowledged, running a hand through his hair again. “The table wasn’t balanced right or something.”

Bry had to cover her mouth with one hand to stifle the threatening laugh. “Uh-huh, sure.”

He sent her a sour look. “Well, what do you think it was?”

She rolled her eyes. “My friend would say it was the universe ‘bringing us together’.”

He grinned. “I like how your friend thinks. But that’s not what I asked.”

Bry shrugged. “Call it coincidence,” she said, then flashed a teasing grin of her own. “Or a really lucky break, I dunno.”

“I’ll go with option B,” he whispered playfully.

“Thought you might,” she winked. Stars, he was fun.

Any further banter was forestalled by the beeping of someone accessing the outer door of their vestibule. Bry hesitated just a fraction of a second, so Jonas was the first to push away from the wall and close the distance between them.

“Play along,” he whispered fiercely as he pinned her against the wall and kissed her.

Caught off-guard as she may have been, Bry obliged for two reasons; she’d been planning to do the exact same thing, and he was a _really good_ kisser.

She still almost slapped him when his hand slid inside her jacket.

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jonas felt her tense, then relax half a second later when she caught on. Smart girl.

Both her hands dug into his hair, forearm conveniently blocking a clear view of their faces, as the door whined open and a pair of grunts passed through. Luckily not the ones she’d distracted earlier--that would have been awkward.

As it was, one gave a lecherous chuckle and whacked his shoulder with the back of one hand to knock them apart. “Hey, Zerik’ll be here soon, save the fun for after we’re filthy rich.”

Jonas stayed where he was, facing Briyoni, and gave her a breathless wink across the small gap that separated them. “If we’re gonna be filthy rich anyway, why not have some fun now?”

“Cuz boss don’t  want anyone outside that don’t need to be,” the thug growled.  “No exceptions, so tell the eye candy to take a hike and get where you’re s’pposed to kriffin’ be.”

“Alright, alright,” he grumbled, filling his voice with dissatisfaction. One hand tangled in her hair as the other started edging out of her jacket, keycard pinched against his palm. With... increased physical contact, he needed to revise his opinion. She wasn’t _lithe_ , she was _athletic_ , which--coupled with calling him a spook-- gave him a few suspicions to her profession. “Can I lock her in somewhere ‘til we’re done? Don’t wanna lose this one.” He raised an eyebrow at Briyoni, who bit her lower lip and smirked back, hands now lightly resting on his hips.

“If you can find somewhere that’ll work, no skin off my nose,” the thug said, snickering as he added, “Bad sign if ya gotta lock her up to keep her, though.” By now his companion had opened the inner door, so with one last healthy whack to Jonas’ shoulder--”Don’t dawdle”--the man strolled inside.

“You heard him; don’t dawdle,” Jonas whispered mischievously, palming the keycard as they parted and smoothed tousled hair.

Briyoni rolled her eyes and lightly smacked the back of his head. “You’re lucky you’re a good kisser,” she groused, but there was no heat behind the words and a glint in her eye.

“Gee, thanks. You’re pretty talented at it yourself.” He ran the keycard over the door scanner and they stepped through--hopefully the right distance back from the thugs to avoid rousing suspicion.

“Gee, thanks,” she parroted glibly, before adding, sotto voce, “How come you get the keycard?” as they walked down the hall. 

So far the lookouts hadn’t tagged them as suspicious. That was good.

“Because this... cartel is strictly human,” Jonas explained. He settled an arm around her shoulders to continue their charade while they were in view. “It’d be a dead giveaway for you to have it.”

Briyoni snorted sardonically and muttered, “But our credits are good enough for ‘em, even if we aren’t.”

“Basically.” He grinned and winked at her. “Their loss.”

A smirk tugged her lips. He’d figured she would catch his drift. “So, where now?”

Excellent question. His original plan had been to find evidence of arms dealing and any other illicit business practices or relationships, discover if this was their central base of operation or if there was somewhere else. But from the sound of things, there was some deal going down. Eavesdropping on that could satisfy all--or at least most--of his starting criteria, as well as giving some individual names and faces to tag for further investigation(by someone better at this than him). Getting a good look when they weren’t on the guest list might be tricky, though.

“Depends on how much you like risk,” Jonas finally said with a chuckle, and Briyoni shot him a ‘ _Are you serious?’_ look that made it hard not to _actually_ laugh. “Alright, then.” They rounded a corner into an empty hallway and he tugged her to a halt. “We should go spy on this meeting. That would be a better payoff than any of the things I was originally after.”

“What, you and your eye candy?” she asked archly, still smirking, as she shrugged out from under his arm.

“Eh, there’s only a couple who think that,” he said. “Zerik is Migrant Merchants’ Guild; anyone asks, you’re one of his people, helping ensure everything is secure for this meeting.” 

“But hopefully no one will ask?”

“Now you’re getting it.”

The two of them continued down the hallway, trying to project an air of confidence in their chosen direction. The catch to this plan, of course, was that to spy on the meeting, they would have to go where there were--presumably--more people, which meant higher risk of being caught. But he was a good bluffer, and from what he’d seen, Briyoni wasn’t too bad herself, so he’d call the risk one worth taking.

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It was amazing what you could get away with through just acting like you belonged and knew what you were doing. A few people tossed them fleeting glances as they strode toward the heart of the warehouse, but no one stopped them, or even asked where they were going.

The arms deal was only slightly trickier to find than anticipated, tucked in a back cubicle of the large central room. There was even a  mostly-convenient walkway that ran along the ceiling nearby. Once settled in position, Bry could see the handful of individuals gathered around a stack of armament cases; a couple humans, a zabrak, a Chagrian who exuded an air of Bad News. She’d guess that was Zerik, though she wasn’t familiar with anyone in the room. Criminal organizations on Coruscant weren’t her strong suit.

Jonas, however, clearly recognized some or all of them, if the way his jaw clenched was any indication. “Keep an eye out, huh?” he muttered, barely audible, as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a holorecorder.

 _A weapon’s out of the question, but **that** you can have?!_ The question would have come out _far_ too sarcastic, so she kept it to herself. Stealth was important right now, and a whispered debate about his equipment would be counter-productive. So she stood and kept an eye on the guards standing around the floor below. No one looked wary or suspicious. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Just as she was starting to get restless, wonder if they were pushing their luck, Jonas clicked off the holorecorder and pushed to his feet. “That should be enough.” He tucked away the holorecorder. “Let’s get out of here before someone wises up.” 

“That’s it?” She raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged “If we could tag a couple of the weapon crates on the way out it’d probably get me a nice bonus, but yeah. Intel’s all I was really here for.”

“Right.”

It required a more circuitous--and perfectly timed--route on their way out, but they did manage to slip tracking tags in a handful of the crates stacked around the warehouse. Not bad for a recon mission she knew had been done largely seat of the pants. Now they waltzed out the door and disappeared among the Festival revelers. Pure pazaak.

The door was in sight when a hand settled roughly on Bry’s shoulder. “How’d you get in here?”

Oh, sithspit. She recognized that voice. She half-turned and sure enough, saw the taller of the guards she’d distracted earlier. ‘Lost drunk girl’ probably wasn’t going to work as well inside the card-access guarded building compared to the public alley. Only one thing to do.

“I told you I was lost,” she faux-pouted. As the man’s face screwed up to snort in disbelief, Bry bent her leg up to snatch the concealed vibroshiv from inside her boot. She spun, slashing across the thug’s chest and escaping his grip in the same fluid motion. “Come _on_!” She grabbed Jonas’ wrist and dragged him toward the door. 

He had the presence of mind to have the keycard out and ready to scan, aiding the haste of their exit. They could still hear the thug hollering into his comms about intruders, so they were prepared to dodge the lookouts’ attempt to stop them.

She could definitely hear pursuit being given, though, so Bry opted to start down the maze of alleys rather than risk a swarm of angry gangsters spilling into a crowd of civilians that included her best friend.

“What kind of girl has a knife in her boot?” Jonas asked with breathless amusement as they ran.

“The kind who likes to be prepared,” sh retorted, equally breathless. “Here!”

The turn was sharp enough they both nearly ran into the wall making it, but it gave them an immediate option of several even narrower alleys to duck down. Bry picked one at random and tugged him after her. It was barely wide enough to fit them both, inches apart as they each put their back to a wall and slid into the shadows, breathing hard.

Jonas grinned and winked at her, pressing one finger against his lips in a completely unnecessary _Shh_ motion that only served to bring Bry’s attention to his mouth. Which meant her gaze lingered there the whole time they were waiting for their pursuers to pass. While trying not to look like she was lingering.

She tipped her gaze up as the sounds of pursuit turned down the alley they’d just vacated and found Jonas watching her. His lips curved in a smirk and those gorgeous blue eyes glinted knowingly, crinkled at the corners.

‘ _Caught you_ ,’ he mouthed.

Bry just smirked back and winked, causing _his_ smirk to shift to a grin. The two of them stared at each other in what little light there was as the sound of running feet grew closer and closer. Stars, it was hard to hold your breath when you were still trying to catch it, but somehow they managed as the gangsters’ shadows flashed across the mouth of their hiding place.

The pursuit missed them and kept going; faint orders to ‘split up’ and ‘find them’ reaching Bry’s ears. She let out the breath she’d been holding, felt Jonas’ tickle her cheek as he did the same. It still smelled like daranu. They were both silent for several additional heartbeats, grinning at each other as they caught their breath.

“I think the coast is clear,” Jonas murmured.

“Uh-huh,” Bry agreed. 

Neither of them moved.

 “Probably safe to go our separate ways,” she said softly.

“Uh-huh,” he nodded.

It still took a minute for either of them to budge. Bry was the first to cave, slipping one hand in her jacket as she maintained eye contact.

“You’ll probably need this,” she said coyly, twiddling his comlink between her index and middle fingers.

His eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. “How’d you-” He shook his head.  “ _When_ is probably the better question.”

“It was trade for the keycard,” Bry returned mischievously. “Honestly surprised you didn’t notice. As for _how_...” She winked and pressed the comlink against his chest, letting her hand linger until he reached for the device. “I told you I have talented hands.”

“I’ll say,” Jonas smirked, taking the comlink and securing it in its spot on the back of his belt. “How does one go about getting a private demonstration sometime?”

Bry nodded toward the comlink. “Call me. And I’ll work you into my schedule.” She raised an eyebrow, guessing he’d catch the inference she’d added her comm frequency. 

He did, and laughed. “I definitely will.”

“Looking forward to it,” she said with a grin. “And now, I have a best friend who’s  probably wondering where the hell I am, so I should be going. And you probably need to check in with your bosses or whoever, let them know how things went?”

He nodded--reluctantly, unless she was reading him _all_ wrong--and stepped out of the alley. “Yeah, I’m gonna make some people very happy with what we found.”

“Happy to help,” Bry winked, following him out and down the alleyway toward where they’d started. “Little adventure with a dashing spy’s always fun.”

Jonas grinned again. “So I guess it’s a good thing I fell on top of you, huh?”

She rolled her eyes and lightly slugged his shoulder. “Don’t push your luck, handsome.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, gorgeous.”

She didn’t protest this time, though she did contemplate swiping his comlink again. “And here I thought spooks were comfortable with risk.”

“We’re also good at avoiding it when it’s not necessary,” he countered. “So, what unit are you with?”

“Huh?” She raised a brow.

“Military, right? Ground-pounder? What’s your unit?”

The brow arched higher. “You _are_ good. The 510. Just finished an assignment and the brass were sweet enough to let me have some leave before the next one.”

“Lucky timing for me,” Jonas said with a laugh. “Coincidence again?”

She rolled her eyes and shoulder-checked him.

They reached the alley behind the club and he shot her a curious look. “You want that replacement drink before I head out?”

“Nah,” she winked. “Save it to go with the dinner you owe me.”

“Deal. Well, Briyoni,” he held out one hand, “thank you ever so much for your help. I’ve never enjoyed having a partner quite so much before.”

Bry took his hand to shake, this grip lingering for a long moment. “You’re ever so welcome, Jonas. Hopefully we can do something even more enjoyable next time.”

“I’ll second that,” Jonas laughed, giving her hand one final squeeze before he let go. “For now, get back to your friend. I’ll see you around.”

She nodded. _I kriffing hope so._  “See ya.”

They split up; Jonas vanished into the crowds as Bry headed back through the club to find Sayna. “Havin’ fun, Say?”

Sayna spun towards her voice. “ _There_ you are. And yes, I am. You could say the same if you hadn’t _vanished_.” She shot Bry a playful look. “Or is having fun _why_ you vanished? I noticed you disappeared around the same time as your, uh, _catch._ Those wouldn’t be connected, would they?”

Bry rolled her eyes. “Say, that’s really reaching. Call it a coincidence and let it go. We’re here to have fun, right?”

“Right, but I _have been_ ,” Sayna reminded her. “Maybe if you hadn’t thrown yourself so hard into proving a point, you would have been, too.”

“Oh, no, you caught me. I bored myself to tears just to prove a point to you,” Bry deadpanned, thoughts drifting to Jonas kissing her in the vestibule. “But now I’m ready to get back to girls’ night out.”

“Great!” Sayna’s eyes lit up and she dragged Bry toward another nearby club. “I hear this place has really good dance music...” She smirked. “Long as no one falls on us this time, it’ll be fun.”

Briyoni rolled her eyes. “That’s not dropping it, Say.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop,” Sayna laughed.

“Thank you. Tonight’s for fun. Needle me about implausible and unlikely guys tomorrow.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Sayna warned

Bry was sure she would. But Sayna’s friendly and teasing interrogation would be balanced out by having two weeks to catch up on sleep, and having that dinner with Jonas to look forward to. Not a bad deal for a coincidental meeting.

Assuming the universe didn’t change plans on her, at least.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, MAN, this was fun to write. It was originally supposed to be a meet-cute(meet-ugly? i don’t remember, it’s from that long ago xD) for Knitter; “ "you’re drunk at this festival and dancing on the table and when you eventually fell i caught you" whichever way I wanted to assign the roles, and well, it works so well both ways I couldn’t resist. I wanted to write it Bry catching Jonas first for sure, though, and while I was in the process the thought occurred “What if Jonas was just pretending to be drunk for Spy Work(TM)?” and VOILA. 
> 
> I will confess to there being some Revanasi influence on their flirting. And I did binge-watching, like, three Brosnan era Bond movies while I was working on this, sooooo if there’s some banter that feels like it belongs in a Bond movie, that’s why. :D


End file.
